Page 39 of Fang (Underground Vengeance MC, NOLA Chapter #3)

I step forward, connecting my tablet to the main display. The satellite imagery of the compound blooms across the wall, now annotated with security details and access points.

“Juan Vasquez,” I begin, enlarging a grainy but unmistakable image of our target.

“ No shit?” Tank asks.

“No shit. He ’ s currently holed up at a cartel safe house thirty miles outside Houston.

Compound is approximately six acres, surrounded by an eight-foot wall with motion sensors and infrared cameras.

” My fingers swipe through images, zooming in on key features.

“Main house here, two guard stations here and here, vehicle depot on the north side.”

Ice leans forward, eyes narrowing. “Entry points?”

“Three,” I reply, highlighting them on the schematic.

“Main gate is heavily monitored. Service entrance on the south side always has lighter security but still has two guards. There’s also a maintenance access point for the electrical systems here—” I tap the southeast corner.

“Potential blind spot if we time it right.”

Mina steps up beside me, her presence sending a current of awareness through my body. She points to specific areas of the compound with the confidence of someone who’s walked those grounds.

“Guard rotations happen every eight hours,” she explains, her voice steady.

“Three shifts—6 am, 2 pm, 10 pm. The fifteen minutes during shift change is when they’re most vulnerable.

” Her finger traces the perimeter fence.

“They have four external guards plus two on the main house at all times. They’re armed with H we want to go after the head of the cartel in Mexico. ”

I nod, understanding the strategic value. “I’ve analyzed the compound’s electronic security. It’s sophisticated but has vulnerabilities—particularly in how their camera system interfaces with their alarm protocols.” I bring up a schematic of the security system.

“ Can you bring down all the cameras at once?”

“No. There ’ s a security measure that prevents me from doing that. But I can create sequential blind spots, disabling cameras and alarms at precisely timed intervals. It won’t give us long—maybe two-minute windows before their fail-safes kick in. It’s enough if we coordinate correctly.”

“We ’ ll need two teams,” Vapor decides, looking around the table. “Fang leads the technical assault—disabling security, providing real-time intelligence. Diablo and Tank can watch your back. I ’ ll head the tactical team with Ice and Bones.”

Mina’s head snaps up. “What about me? Where do I fit in the plan?”

A moment of silence falls over the room. I’ve been dreading this moment since we discovered Vasquez ’ s location. I take a breath, meeting her eyes directly.

“You stay here,” I say, keeping my voice even despite knowing the storm that’s coming. “With Rory.”

Her expression shifts from confusion to disbelief to anger in the span of three seconds. “That’s not happening,” she says flatly. “I know that compound. I’ve been inside. You need me.”

“Which is why you’ve been crucial to the planning,” I counter, trying to sound reasonable rather than protective. “But Rory needs you here. He ’ s flying to Maryland in two days. Do you really want to miss that?”

“No, but we’re talking about Juan Vasquez,” she argues, her voice rising slightly. “The man who kept my brother from me. The man who put us on the cartel ’ s top ten hit list. He’s hunting both of us. I deserve to be there when you take him down.”

I step closer to her, lowering my voice. “That’s exactly why you can’t come. He wants you, Mina. This could be another trap. I’m not risking you walking right into his hands.”

“That’s not your decision to make,” she says, eyes flashing dangerously.

“It’s mine,” Vapor interjects, his tone brooking no argument. “And Fang’s right. Rory needs you here. More importantly, we need a fallback. If something goes wrong, if we don’t come back, someone needs to finish what we started.”

Her shoulders slump almost imperceptibly as the fight drains from her.

“Fine,” she concedes, though her eyes still burn with frustration. “But you better bring that bastard back alive so I can look him in the eyes before you throw his lifeless body into the swamp.”

“ Good idea,” Diablo says, grinning. “ Gator chow.”

“ Make sure he ’ s dead this time,” Tank says.

“ Triple tap him,” Ice agrees.

Vapor nods once. “Wheels up in an hour. It’s going to take us at least five hours to get there and we need time to regroup once we arrive.” He dismisses the team, each brother moving with purpose toward their preparations.

As the room empties, Mina grabs my wrist. Her grip is tight enough to leave marks.

“You come back to me,” she says fiercely. “You understand? I didn’t find you just to lose you to Juan Vasquez.”

The raw emotion in her voice catches me off guard.

We haven’t put labels on what’s growing between us—haven’t had time amid the chaos of Rory’s recovery and the hunt for Juan.

But her words make my chest tighten with something that feels dangerously like love.

I ’ ve never felt anything like this before, but somehow, I know.

I ’ ve fallen for this woman. There ’ s no doubt about it.

I touch her face, thumb tracing the curve of her cheekbone. “I’ll come back,” I promise. “With Juan in cuffs and every piece of intel we need to burn his organization to the ground.”

She kisses me then, hard and desperate, her fingers tangling in my hair.

I moan against her lips, wishing I had the time to take her to bed again so I could show her how much I love her.

It ’ s on the tip of my tongue, but I hold back.

Until Vasquez is in the Quiet Room, we ’ ve got too much to lose.

If I tell her now and something happens to me, it will be harder for her to move on. It ’ s better if I wait.

When we separate, her eyes are glistening with unshed tears. “I’ll be monitoring everything from our office. Don’t you dare go dark on me.”

I nod, already mentally shifting into operational mode, compartmentalizing emotions to focus on the task ahead.

My head needs to be in the game one hundred percent.

I can ’ t be thinking about her or Rory or about what we could lose.

Focusing on getting Vasquez is the only thing I can care about right now.